A claim with reasons to support the claim.
In the music video "Fat," the big guys accuse Weird Al of not being fat. Weird Al makes the claim that he is fat and gives them reasons to support his claim.
Reason 1
My zippers bust, my buckles break,
I'm too much man for you to take.
The pavement cracks when I fall down
I've got more chins than Chinatown
Notice that these reasons are pretty small time. They are easily refutable. After all, haven't all of us broken a zipper or a buckle at one time or another? Thus, we have the jab. It's a small flurry of reasons, meant not so much to convince the reader as to tenderize him/her.Reason 2:
Well, I've never used a phone booth
And I've never seen my toes
When I'm goin' to the movies
I take up seven rows
These reasons are more convincing. Especially the one at the end. It would be pretty impossible for anyone to take up seven rows unless he or she were truly fat. Thus, we have the cross punch. Jabs have only the weight of the arm behind them. the cross punch has the weight of the whole body.
Reason 3:
When I walk out to get my mail
It measures on the Richter scale
Down at the beach I'm a lucky man
I'm the only one who gets a tan
If I have one more pie ala mode
I'm gonna need my own ZIP code
This is the final blow. There's no way to get out of this reasoning. Science backs up Weird Al's claim with the Richter scale, and the government is backing him up with the promise of a zip code.
Save the best reason for last and knock your opponent flat.
Note that essay structure very closely follows dramatic structure. There's a protagonist (the writer) and the antagonist (the audience). The protagonist starts with small conflict (reasons) and escalates to larger conflicts (reasons).
In summary:
When you start an essay think of a claim, and reasoning to back it up. Start with the smaller reasons (the jabs), go to the bigger reasons (the crosses), and end with the best, most irrefutable reason you have (the upper cut).
